Interdisciplinary Centre for Pietism Research

Who we are

The Interdisciplinary Centre for Pietism Research (IZP) at MLU is a unique institution dedicated to the study of Pietism and related currents of Christianity in the context of religious transformation processes from the early modern period to the present. Since its founding in 1993, the IZP has bridged the gap between university research and the Francke Foundations, which, as a significant institution for the history of Pietism, possess outstanding archives and collections. Beyond its own research projects, the IZP sees itself as an institution that has been networking researchers nationally and internationally for decades, raising awareness of their work – both via academic venues and through activities for a more general audience. This is achieved through conferences, lecture series, workshops, and mentoring for young researchers.

CFP: Protestant Mission Efforts towards Gypsy/Roma Communities (17th–21st Centuries)
2026 Annual Meeting of the Gypsy Lore Society and Conference on Romani Studies, Zagreb, Sept. 5-7, 2026

CFP GLS Protestant Roma Mission
CFP GLS Panel Roma Mission.pdf (223.7 KB)  vom 01.04.2026

CFP: Pietism and Rule
VII. International Congress for Pietism Research
Halle/Saale, September 5-8, 2027

CFP Pietismus und Herrschaft 2027
CFP Pietismus und Herrschaft 2027.pdf (320.8 KB)  vom 04.12.2025

CFP Pietism and Rule 2027
CFP Pietism and Rule 2027.pdf (390.6 KB)  vom 04.12.2025

IZP programme flyer summer term 2026

Flyer summer term 2026
Flyer IZP SoSe 2026.pdf (15.4 MB)  vom 01.04.2026

"Organ der Neuen Zeit":
Die Hallischen Jahrbücher (1838-1844) und die Revolution der Kritik

Workshop, 16.-17. April 2027, Franckesche Stftungen, Haus 24, Seminarraum

Organisiert von Florian Scherübl, Friedemann Stengel und Daniel Weidner

further information:
Programm Workshop Hallische Jahrbücher.pdf (348.6 KB)  vom 09.04.2026

Vertrauen: Sicherheit im Ungewissen?
Funktionen einer sozialen Ressource

IZP-IZEA Lecture series summer term 2026

Under the social, political, economic, and cultural conditions of modernity, the erosion of traditional guarantees of social stability has become visible and tangible since the early modern period. The experience of difference and competition, and thus of contingency, leads to an understanding of the dangers arising from the increasing complexity of social relationships, which generates uncertainty. This is accompanied by the certainty of being increasingly responsible for one's own actions and their success. The normative efforts of the 17th and 18th centuries—for example, in the areas of law and morality, but also in education, economics, the development of social institutions, and the establishment of reliable systems of knowledge—can be understood as attempts to address these uncertainties.

The lecture series by IZP and IZEA in the summer semester of 2026 focuses on trust as a historically changeable category and reflects on it interdisciplinarily in its legal, economic, religious-theological and emotional-historical dimensions from the early modern period to the modern era.

• Info

Himmelsstürmer: Bewohnte Welten im Kosmos von Kant bis zur Science Fiction

Benjamin Henry Day: The Great Moon Hoax (1835)

Dr. Hauke Heidenreich / Dr. Diethard Sawicki

Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften, 3. Juli 2026

Zeit und Ort werden noch bekanntgegeben

Natural Science and Protestant Missionary Work - Blog

The plant collections of the Moravian Church in the herbarium of the Dresden University of Technology: identificationand contextualization using digital humanities methods

For more information, visit our blog   

Dissertation honored

The prestigious award from the European Academy of Religion goes to Giovanni Tortoriello for his dissertation:

Scala Christus est. Reassessing the Historical Context of Martin Luther's Theology of the Cross, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2023 (Spätmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation, Band 135)

https://www.europeanacademyofreligion.org/it/alberigo-award   

Conference reports

• Conference Report on HSozKult